Hat-forming machine



(No Model.)

D. ALMOND.

HAT FORMING MAGHINB. No. 312.602. Patented Feb. 24,1885.

#671235. @z mwzz'or.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID ALMOND, OF NEIVARK, NEW JERSEY.

HAT-FORMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 312,602, dated February 24, 1885.

Application filed July 25, 1854. (X0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, DAVID ALMOND, a citizen of the United States, residing in Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat-Forming Machines, fully de-' scribed and represented in the following specificationand the accompanying drawing ,for1ning a part of the same.

This invention consists in an improved construction for the rotary brush used in combination with the picker-roll of a hat-forming machine. Heretofore the rotary brushes have been formed by drilling rows of holes for the tufts of bristles in a series of wooden lags attached to cast-iron heads, the whole forming a heavy drum with a wooden shell about an inch and one-quarter in thickness, and weighing, with the iron heads and shaft, about one hundred pounds. Having found it difiicult to handle such a brush-drum when adjusting the same to its bearings, and to rotate it at asuitable degree of speed, I have devised an i1nproved construction in which I substitute a tin or sheetmetal drum, attached to its driving-shaft by heads of the same material, for the heavy drum heretofore used, and secure the brushes thereto by first securing the tufts of bristles in metallic strips and then fastening said strips to the drum in any convenient manner, as by solder or screws. The construction will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the feed ing mechanism of a hat-forming machine, showing the apron, feed-rolls, pickerroll, and rotary brush. Fig. 2 is a side view of the brush-drum A, its shaft l3, and pulley C. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of such drum, showing one method of securing the drum to the shaft. Fig. 5 is an outside view of one of the brushstrips, showing the holes for the tufts. Fig. 6 is an inside view of the same. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of such strip secured to a portion of the drum. Fig. Sis a vertical section of such strip secured to a portion of said drum.

In Fig. 1, D is the feeding-apron, E are the feeding-rolls, F the picker-roll, and A the rotary brush, arranged in their proper relations, the fur being carried by the apron to the rolls E, whence it is torn by the picker F and delivered to the brush, which scatters it over the hat-forming cone in the required manner. A

primary requisite in the arrangement of the bristles upon the drum is that they should all revolve in close proximity to the picker-teeth. This has heretofore been effected by evenly searing the tips of the bristles with a hot iron. Such an operation forms a sort of knot at the tips of many bristles, upon which the dirt in the fur collects, and is finally discharged upon the hat with great injury to the latter.

' In my invention the tufts are fastened in metallic strips, as in other structures, by tying the tufts into holes extended nearly through the strips and communicating by a conical aperture with a groove upon the inside of the strip,through which thebiuding-wire is drawn.

a a are the tufts, b the strips, 0 the holes for the tufts, d the groove on the inside of the strip, and e the apertures through which the wires are drawn. When the tufts are thus tied in the holes, their tops are chipped off at an even distance from the base of the strip, which is easily determined by a suitable gage, and the drum being made truly cylindrical the tufts all revolve at a uniform distance from the center when fastened thereon.

As abrush-drum eleven inches in diameter is frequently revolved at a speed of sixteen hundred turns per minute, it is essential that the strip 1) should be firmly secured to the surface of the metallic drum, which I accomplish, preferably, by soldering the same thereon, the drum being made in such case of sheettin, to which the solder strongly adheres.

To prepare the strips for soldering, I form them of brass or gun-metal and tin the inner side of the strip before tying the tufts therein. The strips are then readily attached to the surface of the drum by a soldering-iron, and may be removed by heating the solder when it becomes necessary to renew the tufts.

A durable construction for the sheet-metal drum is shown in Fig. 4, tin being preferably used, that the joints may be readily united by solder.

A A are circular dished platesformed with flanges f, to fit over the shaft and inside the shell, to both of which they are firmly soldered, the steel shaft being readily tinned with the aid of acids at the required points,

As the shell is unavoidably formed with longitudinal seams, I prevent their loosening at the endsby applying heads G at each end and flanging the rim of the head over the outside of the shell, to which it is securely soldered. By this construction I am enabled to secure great strength and freedom from shrinkage or warping, as when wooden staves are employed, while the weight, including the strips and thirteen hundred tufts, is reduced to only thirty pounds.

As the brushes will wear five or years, the labor of unsoldering the strips may be considered as immaterial when it is required to renew the tufts; but nuts may be soldered inside the shell and the strips Z) secured by screws inserted through the same into such nuts, if pre- 1. The rotary brush for hat-forming machines, consisting in the sheet-metal shell A, secured to the drumshaft B, as described, in combination with the metallic strips I), having the tufts a wired therein and the strips secured to the surface of the drum, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination, with the drum A, of metallic strips Z), provided with grooves d on the inner side, and with holes 0, extending partly through the strip and communicating with the groove by small holes 6, and having the tufts tied in the holes 0 by a wire laid in the groove, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. On a rotary brush for hat-forming ma chine, the combination, with the tin shell A, of the circular plates A and heads G, constructed and secured upon the shaft B by solder, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whercofl have hereunto set my 'hand in the presence of two subscribing wit DQSSOS.

DAVID ALMOND. XVitnesses:

(l. G. HERRIOK, Tnos. S. CRANE. 

